ernie's eruditions

There have been some pretty impressive people that I've gotten to hear at this conference. Bob Woodson, founder of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise gave a great talk during the opening yesterday. David Lauren, Senior VP of Advertising, Marketing, and Corporate Communications with Polo Ralph Lauren (and Ralph Lauren's son) gave a strong talk about the Polo G.I.V.E. campaign. While it's really just a drop in the bucket for a company the size of Polo, it's nice to see them pushing such a huge ad campaign that focuses on how important civic engagement is. And you can't complain about the fact that some of the models in the campaign are AmeriCorps members. They've also got TFA members, and some pretty amazing people who've founded non-profits and the like. The fact that the page is Flash-based is rather annoying though . . .

They were also presenting corporate awards, and I was really impressed that Federated had sent their CEO to accept the award. Thomas Kinkade was also here yesterday.

Lunch was pretty amazing - an excellent salmon salad with fresh spinach, caramelized red onions, sauteed mushrooms, and other goodies. Everything was served cold, and it had a sweet vinagerette dressing. The salmon was some of the best salmon I've had, cooked just right.

Tonight we've got several different receptions we want to try and make appearances at (Voices for National Service, AmeriCorps Alums (and let me say, I hate that they're using "alums" rather than the proper plural form), and maybe even the New Mexico state commission), and then tomorrow we're supposed to hear from Mike Leavitt and Mark Victor Hansen. Neither of the speakers impress me, but they're both pretty well know, being the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, respectively.

Oh well . . . time to go find the gang before heading to the reception . . .